The coffee specialty store ``BROTHER'' opened on November 1st within the market ``Niji no Mart'' (Ekimae-cho, Hirosaki City).

This store specializes in drip coffee. The owner, Kyohei Matsuno, who is originally from Hirosaki and made a U-turn from Okinawa, opened the store. ``Niji no Mart'' is a market lined with shops selling fresh foods and delicatessen items, and they are looking for ``Challenge Store Openers'' to support the challenges of young people. Mr. Matsuno is opening a store as a challenge store.

Mr. Matsuno left Hirosaki after graduating from high school and spent more than 15 years selling coffee beans at a major coffee chain in Tokyo. At the invitation of a roaster friend, he moved to Okinawa in 2021 due to the coronavirus pandemic. He helped set up a coffee shop and worked as a manager for about two years, but in September of this year he made a U-turn to Hirosaki with an eye on opening a shop in his hometown of Hirosaki.

``I had planned to spend about a year building connections and preparing for opening a store, but I ended up opening a store in an instant. Even I was surprised,'' said Matsuno.

According to Matsuno, he used to go to Niji no Mart with his grandmother when he was a child. Mr. Matsuno said, ``My grandmother used to shop at Niji no Mart.Some of the people at Niji no Mart remember it, and they feel nostalgic, saying, ``We were so small, but now we've grown so big.'' There were a lot of people there. I'm happy to be able to open a store in such a place," he says with a smile.

The menu includes hot coffee (from 500 yen), today's iced coffee (500 yen), and apple juice (400 yen). They purchase coffee beans from ``COFFEE COLORS'' (Aomori City) and ``iro coffee'' (Hirosaki City), and also sell beans (100 grams = 800 yen and up). "I don't roast my own coffee. I'm a coffee brewer," says Matsuno. Mr. Matsuno has a history of participating in the finals of the coffee contest "JHDC (Japan Hand Drip Championship) 2023."

Mr. Matsuno enthusiastically says, ``We aim to be a coffee specialty store in the city where important people can gather, and we want to continue this business for a long time in Hirosaki, where the coffee culture is deeply rooted.''

Business hours are 8:00 to 18:00. Closed on Sundays.